The Merchant's Box
by Twilight Joltik
Summary: Anna owns a mysterious box filled with cards that can summon the spirits of legendary warriors. This power becomes quite an asset to the Shepherds, though no one quite understands it, but the mysterious amnesiacs acting as their tacticians can certainly make use of it. Retelling of Awakening with Anna as a main character and an emphasis on the Einherjar, accepting OCs.


_**AN- Oh look, another Awakening rewrite. Look, I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't think I had something interesting to bring to the table. And that interesting thing is making Anna one of the main characters and integrating the Bonus Box Einherjar into the plot. Just stick around and I'll do my best to make this idea that's been done to death unique. I don't know if I'll continue this the whole way, just depends on whether or not I like writing it. And I don't own Fire Emblem, despite the many hours I've poured into Awakening. So, thanks and enjoy! –Twilight Joltik**_

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><p><em>The Merchant's Box<em>

_Prologue- The Legendary Box_

_Once there was a box that was said to be filled with phantom warriors strong enough to fell whole nations. It was passed from hand to hand throughout __the ages, usually stolen by force or taken as a memoir of a deadly battle, but it eventually ended up in the hands of a clan more ancient than the Fire Emblem itself. They pledged themselves to guard it and add to its power so when the time came, they could use the box for something great. What exactly that great thing was, no one ever quite figured out, but they guarded it all the same._

_Of course, not every one of the box's guardians was honorable. One of their clan broke stole the box and ran away to parts unknown. Her motives were unknown, but the woman who stole the box was never seen by the clan again. The box was lost forever, it seemed, until it finally resurfaced and served the purpose it had been guarded for thousands of years to serve. This is the story of that box, at least in part…_

A young woman with red hair tied back in a ponytail strode through the forest, holding the sack containing both her wares and her profits close to her. Something grabbed her ankle, and she turned to see a hideous creature emerging from the ground. It looked as if it was rotting, and its touch stung like poison ivy. The woman gave a chuckle and placed her finger to her chin, as she so often did to enhance her charm. "Now, aren't you a terror?" she joked. "Shame the dead aren't good customers; I could sell you some skin cream that would clear those unsightly blemishes right up, only five thousand gold."

The creature simply let out a bloodcurdling cry and slashed at the merchant, who dug a wooden box out of her sack as she jumped back. "Sorry, hate to do this to you, but I can't make any sales if I join you," she chuckled.

Opening the box, she grabbed a thin piece of wood that was painted with a detailed portrait of a young woman with blue hair. It glowed a bright cyan as the merchant woman held the card between her fingers. "Princess of the Lunar Brace, Eirika, dispose of this poor beast, wouldn't you?" requested the woman. The blue glow shot from the card and took the form of a young woman, much like the one pictured on the card. She bore a blade, using it to slice down the undead beast without a word.

"Thank you," the woman muttered, and the card's energy flew back into it. As she put the box back into her great sack, she felt a bit of the weight disappear from it. Ah, how awful it was to be a merchant who has but one weapon: one which draws its energy from gold, she thought to herself as she continued on her path. She hoped by morning she could reach the small village of Southtown by morning to sell her goods so she wouldn't have to fear running out of gold to power that odd box that served as her only protection, lest she damage her own wares.

As she tread on, she reached a small field where she sat down for a moment to rest. She wanted nothing more than to close her eyes for a brief moment. After all, surely no beasts or rogues would lurk in such an empty place, right?

A flash of violet proved her wrong, as she was awakened by a loud bang. The merchant quickly looked around to see a purple spell circle in the sky, and two dark figures fell out of it. Her curiosity nagged at her, but her survival instincts won out and sent her running. Something told her it was something she shouldn't mess with.

Later, she would wonder what happened to that mentality as she got tangled up in the very affairs she fled from.

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><p><em><strong>AN- Yeah, short start, but I didn't really want to start in the field or in the premonition like most Awakening rewrites do. So, onto the stuff most of you care about: the OC and reader suggested content. Yes, please submit OCs, preferably by PM, but I reserve the right to elaborate on the ideas and I may not use all of them. Sorry, I'm not trying to hurt anyone's feelings, I just have no clue how many I will get or what ideas will strike me with them. My goal here is to make the story a bit more fleshed out with more characters, and if you submit a female character, feel free to submit a child character for them as well. Also, if you can, give their class and reclass options, because reclassing is magic. <strong>_

_**And I will be allowing shipping suggestions. Here's a tentative list of major ones, but I'm open to suggestions for better pairings, unless it interferes with MorganxNah, in which case no one is allowed to suggest otherwise because it's kind of my OTP…**_

_**Chrom and Olivia**_

_**Female MU and Stahl**_

_**Male MU (yeah, we're using both) and Sumia**_

_**Lissa and Lon'qu**_

_**Anna and Gaius**_

_**Nowi and Donnel**_

_**Maribelle and Henry**_

_**Male Morgan and Nah**_

_**Really, if anyone else better ideas, tell me. And don't feel bad about pairing an OC with a canon character, but maybe give me a few options in case it conflicts with someone else's OC. Also, I'd love ideas about the final class of each character, and which Einherjar you'd like to be the most prominent. I already have a rough team of six that will be major-ish, but nothing's set in stone. So, thanks for reading! –Twilight Joltik**_


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